[Baconwizard]

Ava's mouth worked as she willed the tears in her eyes from falling down her cheeks. She didn't want to leave the nice, quiet town. She had just figured out where the library was; on Saturday she was planning on getting a bunch of books. The art store was nice, and Ava could walk everywhere she needed to. Nodding quickly in agreement with Cyril, Ava looked away, trying to compose herself. Stop crying. She brought a hand to her face, wiping away the tears that had inevitably fallen, begrudging the salty taste in her mouth and burning eyes.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril watched the tears roll down her face with an almost detached look, his eyes lidding softly. "Ava..." he murmured, shaking his head softly and glancing down at his hands. "Please don't make this difficult. It wasn't your fault... You didn't know about Sencha. If he hadn't been a demon, he could have been a very nice person." Cyril's voice was soft as he reached out with one hand to barely brush her arm across the small table, an action that made him wince as his shoulder complained, and he offered a small smile. "The house I'm planning on is in the mountains. I think you'll like it... It's very pretty, and you could paint all you want."

[Baconwizard]

Ava made a sniffling noise, her hand half-hiding her face as she tried to stifle her tears. "W-will we always have to run?" She whispered, her voice cracking halfway. "Whenever... whenever anyone gets close to us, w-will we have to run away?" A sob bubbled up out of her, and Ava curled into herself slightly, her hands curling into fists to stop their shaking, her voice barely a whisper now. "I hate it. I hate this, Cyril."

[zapdragon555]

Cyril's smile twitched slightly at her words, then slowly fell, and stayed there, his brows tilting into a soft scowl. "Whether or not you hate it doesn't change the fact that we're both constantly in danger of being uncovered," he murmured, his voice much less appeasing, much more rough now. "We will run away if we have to. We will do what we have to to stay hidden," he said, his voice low with purpose as he narrowed his eyes at her, his fingers growing firm on her arm. "Do you understand me, Ava?"

[Baconwizard]

Ava bit down on another sob, her entire body shaking slightly. She looked at Cyril as he squeezed her arm, her eyes red and dripping. No, she didn't understand. Ava didn't understand at all. She wanted... Ava's fist's tightened, her fingernails squeezing against the soft skin of her palm. She wanted a lot of things that were impossible now. That wouldn't change the fact that they would leave. Sniffling, Ava nodded, her eyes slipping slightly from Cyril's blue gaze to hover at his jaw. "I understand," she murmured, voice subdued. Now they would have to pack up everything, and throw away anything they couldn't take. Leaving no time to say goodbye to anything, just like last time. No, no, Ava couldn't think about this. It wouldn't change the facts.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril's eyes flashed slightly behind his lashes, his grip barely tightening on her arm before it loosened again. She was lying. He knew good and well she was, but over time, he'd grown to get used to it. She didn't have a choice, after all. Without him, she'd be found out for being an accomplice at best... and who knows what they'd do to her, and who knows what they'd to to get to him, too... "It's for the best, Ava," he assured her softly, letting go of her arm and standing up. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes growing a bit softer. "Want to make something for dinner?" he asked in a softer, lighter tone, glancing outside. It was well past nine o clock at night, but... neither of them had eaten, past what Ava ate with Sencha.

[Baconwizard]

Ava's eyes followed Cyril as he stood up, a solemn pull on her expression. She straightened slightly at the mention of dinner, her insides swinging slightly. That meant she was either hungry or sick. Wiping her face, Ava searched her mind for possible dinners. It wasn't like she wanted to cook, but Cyril was offering a distraction, and at this point, Ava welcomed it. "Um... noodles would be easiest," she murmured, looking down at the table. Maybe that was a bad idea. What if he didn't want plain old ramen? Ava continued to talk, her voice coming faster. "O-or... I could try making stir fry... All the ingredients are there. Or the chicken breast, i-if that's what you want. What do you want?" Ava looked back up at Cyril, looking as if she might cry again, her hands clutching at the edge of the table.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril turned back to glance at her as he heard her voice break again, and his eyes flickered. "Whatever you want," he answered softly, his expression an odd mixture of cautious and sad. He paused for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Stir fry sounds nice," he mused, moving into the kitchen and opening the fridge to peer inside. "Let's see... what do we need for that..." he murmured, ignoring the fact that he hadn't cooked a day in his life and was only talking to fill the silence and attempt to take Ava's mind off of her own heart.

[Baconwizard]

Ava was clutching at the edge of the table hard, her hands almost white with tension. Taking deep, gasping breaths, Ava tried not to burst into tears, or let the mass of writhing emotions explode out of her chest. After a few moments, the wave of fear had passed, and Ava wiped her face. Carefully getting up out of the chair, Ava padded over to the fridge. Bending down, Ava reached into the vegetable drawer and began pulling out an onion, pepper, and some broccoli. With a watery, cautious gaze, Ava looked up at Cyril, then moved over to the counter. "Do... you want tofu, or chicken in this? Or–or just plain..."

[zapdragon555]

Cyril stepped away from the fridge for a moment to give her a little more room. He met her gaze as she looked at him, and he seemed to shy from it, looking sheepish and guilty. "W-whichever you want..." he repeated himself, blinking slowly. "Chicken might be nice... I can take care of that." He'd seen her prepare chicken enough times to have a good idea of what to do. He reached into the freezer and blinked at the ice cream in there beside the chicken, and he glanced at her, offering a smile as he took out the food. "Afterwards, what if we ate the rest of the ice cream in here? We might as well..."

[Baconwizard]

Carefully, as if holding a bomb, Ava opened a drawer and pulled out a knife from inside and began to slowly chop up the vegetables into bite sized pieces. The rhythmic chop began to become a background noise, something for Ava to focus on. The onions fell apart into little white curves, the carrots slicing neatly, the mushrooms disintegrating into small chunks. "That sounds nice," she murmured in response to Cyril's offer, and a hint of a smile showed on her face. "It's your favorite flavor... I ate all of mine."

[zapdragon555]

Cyril had rolled up his sleeves and begun to prepare the dish for cooking the chicken, then blinked at her words, glancing over at her. "Ah... we should get some more of your favorite soon, then," he said with a small smile, happy to see her smiling again at least. Even if it was only a little. "What spices would be good in this?" he asked, reaching up to the cupboard and blinking at the array of spices. God, they had a lot. It was going to be a shame to throw most of these away... Cyril felt a small pang of guilt in his chest that made him wince slightly, but he covered it with a smile. "You always knew much more about cooking than I did. I'd be lost without you," he chuckled, his smile easy, despite his words.

[Baconwizard]

Ava looked over at Cyril, a strange look on her face as he headed towards the spice cabinet. The chicken didn't need any spices. "Uhm, we should probably cook it first," she said, moving over to carefully take the chicken away from Cyril. She glanced up at him, a soft look in her eyes at the compliment, but her smile didn't come as easy as it should have. Letting out a small sigh, Ava got a frying pan out and plopped the chicken on it with a sizzling sound. Ava looked over at the knife she used to cut up the vegetables, then quickly back at the pan. "I-if you want, you could cut up one of the peppers."

[zapdragon555]

Cyril blinked as Ava took the chicken away from him, looking a bit rueful. Right, frying, not baking. That was how they usually did it, wasn't it... Cyril nodded slowly and took the pepper from her and the knife, beginning to slice it into thin pieces. "When we move, you should show me how to cook a little better. I'd love to make something for you, sometime," he said with a small smile in her direction before returning his focus to the pepper. "As thanks for all the times you've done it..."

[Baconwizard]

Ava looked over at Cyril, her eyes flickering, and her expression slowly settled on a smile. "You don't need to thank me," she mumbled, turning her eyes back to the sizzling chicken. Really, he didn't. If he thanked her, for that small of a thing, she'd feel... Ava wasn't sure what she would feel. All she knew was right then, her chest was too tight, and she couldn't breathe properly. Taking a shaky breath, Ava tried to swallow, tried to ignore the salty scent of frying chicken weighing down the room. Would she be able to eat, like this? Cyril was trying so hard to ease her back to like it was before, to calm her down, to surround her with normal things. It was his way of apologizing. So Ava would have to do her part and accept it. Eat the food. Automatically, Ava took the cooked chicken and set it aside. "Y-you can cut it up, now. I'll... fry the vegetables..." Taking the pepper, Ava put the mixed-up vegetables into the pot, her expression set as she focused entirely on cooking, and not her turning stomach or constricted lungs.